US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday held a two-hour long telephone conversation discussing a list of issues including bringing peace to Ukraine.
“I think we had a great call, it lasted almost two hours, talked about a lot of things and toward getting it to peace,” Trump told local american press.
“Russia has the advantage. As you know, they have encircled about 2500 [Ukrainian] soldiers,” President Trump noted.
“Putin was very solid, very strong, which he is,” Trump said. “It was a very good call. I know him very well. I think he is very serious that he wants to end it [the conflict in Ukraine],” the US president added.
President Putin of Russia insisted that “the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working on its redirection to a political and diplomatic settlement must be a complete halt to foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence to Ukraine.”
According to analysts, the outcome of Putin- Trump phone conversation exceeded the expectations of skeptics.
Nicolai Petro, professor of Political Science at University of Rhode Island who specializes in issues related to Russia and Ukraine, elaborated, “I would say that more was achieved than skeptics expected, but less than optimists had hoped for.”
“The vague statement [from the White House] about the conflict ending ‘with a lasting peace’ can be seen as an indirect acceptance of Russia’s insistence on addressing the root causes of the conflict. In exchange for this, and for a hope for better relations, Russia is willing to cease its energy and infrastructure attacks. But will Ukraine?” the professor said.
